Reader here, and I admit, I do love this time of year (aside from the inescapable stench of all things pumpkin spice!)

Halloween is coming, and everyone is getting their costumes ready, kids are  excited to go trick-or-treating, and, best of all, you can always find a ton of scary movies on TV or streaming services!

When I was younger, I didn’t see too many scary movies, as my parents (quite sensibly) made sure I didn’t see that stuff until I was a little older.

But, the first time I remember seeing any horror movie,was when I was in about Grade Six or Seven.  I was spending the weekend hanging out at the home of of my best friends, Randy, when he and I, along with his brother Ryan and our friend Jason hunkered down in the basement with the lights turned down, and fired up something cool… “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors!”

This was my first exposure to cinema’s favourite dream demon, the one and only Freddy Krueger, and I was hooked.  The razor-fingered claw, the red and green sweater, the beat-up fedora, and the awesome makeup job to create Freddy burn-scarred visage, all combined to create the most iconic villain (outside of Darth Vader), that I had ever seen, to that time.  On topof  that,  Freddy finished off his victims with a variety of sick jokes, making him a maniac you couldn’t help but kinda like.

Over the years, I dressed up as Mr.Krueger a couple of times for Halloween.  The first time, my Dad used some PVC pipe to make razor fingers that I could slip on.  Ingenious!  Then, many years later, when I had the money, I picked myself up a replica Freddy glove and sweater, along with a mask and better hat, that I wore to work.  And I actually did a fun stunt on air, in which I went live on air through the McDonald’s drive-thru in full Freddy gear, and freaked out the poor fellow working the drive-thru!  So much fun!

I’ve since seen all the “Nightmare” sequels, and even the terrible 2010 reboot, and Freddy will always be my favourite.

As the years went by, I worked my way through the “Friday the 13th” films, featuring the exploits of Jason Voorhees, the unstoppable monster behind the most famous hockey mask of all-time.

The original 1978 classic, “Halloween,” set the stage for all of the slasher flicks to follow.  I love it, and it only makes sense that it was directed by John Carpenter, who is the man behind some of my other favourite movies, like “Big Trouble in Little China,” “The Thing,” and “They Live.”  Not only that but he also composed the unforgettable score that soundtracked Michael Myers’ quest to wipe out Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Laurie Strode” and her high school friends that fateful October 31st.

And, of course, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”  Tobe Hooper’s macabre masterpiece that introduced “Leatherface” and his evil family to moviegoers, and traumatized a generation.  (Fun fact – the narrator at the beginning of that movie?  John Larroquette, who went on to win several Emmys for his role as the chronically horny prosecutor Dan Fielding, in the classic ’80s sitcom “Night Court!”)

All of these movie series had a ton of sequels and reboots of varying quality, but as a child of the 1980s and ’90s, Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and Michael Myers make up my Mount Rushmore of horror villains.

Who are your faves?  And what are your favourite scary movies?